Israeli startup’s new cooling technique

By
10.31.2002 :: 12:00PM EST

Current schemes for cooling PCs may soon be supplanted by other more effective methods. Today's desktop computers generally have large heatsinks and loud fans. Many systems have multiple fans, and Intel's Pentium 4 throttles the processor down whenever the chip exceeds a certain temperature. Intel's higher-clocked Willamette processor sometimes operated at half frequency due to heat buildup. But as processors put out more heat, these techniques will eventually need to be supplemented. One Israeli startup, called ActiveCool, is already dealing with this situation, and has come up with a thermoelectric heat pump controlled by its own microprocessor. The system, called AC4G, costs US$120 per unit and will be commercially available next year. The system uses several sensors, which control a cooling plate and fan. As the processor heats up, the cooling plate gets activated, and the fan goes to a higher level. This scheme is much easier to implement than liquid cooling, and should make 4GHz microprocessors more feasible. Intel has 4GHz Pentium 4 processors running in the lab, but those systems are cooled by liquid nitrogen. 90 nm parts will get to 4GHz without liquid cooling, but will still probably put out prodigious quantities of heat.

USER COMMENTS 77 comment(s)

What about cool chips?(1:02pm EST Thu Oct 31 2002)I remember an article a few months ago about a chip with some form of vacuum inside that acted almost like a peltier, and forced heat to move from one side of the chip to the other without any moving parts. Anyone know how that technology is coming along? – by Damien

Les'see here… Peltier efficiency is 60% (1.5 watts of electrical input to move 1 watt of heat on the cold plate), so for my 70 watt CPU, i'd need a 110 watt Peltier. Together they'd produce a tidy 180 watts of thermal output. Now someone tell me exactly HOW that 180 watts isn't going to require a freakin' industrial blower to exhaust the case? Jeez. Then there's the “other chips” (per the article). Add up that, and you've got one HUGE added heat budget for the case.

Nope. Peltiers are sweet for extreme overclockers, but for Ma and Pa Kettle, they're just about as appropriate as using a nuclear reactor to heat Fido's doghouse.

Goatgak. Pure & Undiluted.

– by GoatGuy

so then(4:35pm EST Thu Oct 31 2002)we'll also need about a 400w PS. So much for “Green” PCs… – by eldou

Liquid Cooled Processors(5:39pm EST Thu Oct 31 2002)The handwriting is on the wall. To get more speed we have to trade out for a better cooling system. This is no differant from aircraft engines. The radial design was supplanted by LC untill high performance demands made even this outmoded with gas turbines.

What will replace LC processors?Biologicals? – by Jim Smart

Cool(6:53pm EST Thu Oct 31 2002)I ran a PIII 700Mhz at 910Mhz for about a year using a 70watt peltier and it even ran right at 32-40 degrees Farenheight depending on what I was doing. The work that went into making it succesful was very minimal. It took a huge heatsink and 400watt supply instead of the 300w that came with the case. If processor design has hit a stage in their development where the only way they'll run faster is to be more affectively cooled, then, so be it. It's amazing what you can get a processor to run at if you get it down to near freezing temperatures. And the only thing to really watch out for is condinsation (which can actually be easily overcome) – by OC'er

The facts about heat….(1:46am EST Fri Nov 01 2002)Engery cannot be created or destroyed, only change forms. Heat is energy, so no matter how you slice it the heat has to go somewhere. Right now it goes into the air via the heatsink/fan. It ALWAYS has to go somewhere, weither it is via water, air, lint or whatever. The moral of this is that as processors get hotter, the heat will have to go somewhere…….. – by Siliconjunkie